News From Mandi: I had a very hard time with Construction Beauty Queen by Sara Daniel. No chemistry. No sexual tension. And I didn’t like the set-up of the heroine forced to do construction work. I’ll write up a review this week. I then moved onto In Her Sights by Charley Colins aka Keri Ford. I like Ford’s contemporary erotics so I wanted to give this one a try. It has a nice beginning but it loses some steam in the second half. It features a wealthy heroine who at night sneaks out and keeps the gangs in order – also kills bad guys. The romance was really slow to develop and the mystery as I said is fun at first but seemed to drag as the book went on. Review coming.

I adoredAll He Ever Desired by Shannon Stacey. Ryan is just so cute. She makes you wait awhile for them to be together and it’s definitely worth the wait. Also loved the realistic ending.

I ended my week with One Night With a Hero by Laura Kaye. This is the first I’ve read of this author and I liked it. I think the love declaration was rushed and I wish we had spent more time with the hero and heroine happy together. Otherwise it is a very sexy book, and I think the author does a nice job with the hero’s anger issues. I want to try more from her. Review coming this week.

News from Helyce: I really cannot believe it is November already. It’s my turn to host Thanksgiving this year and I’m already stressing about it. Though my husband takes care of pretty much everything turkey related, it’s still a challenge to prepare side dishes and feed 16 people in my itty bitty house! We’re finally starting to get a little bit of cooler weather here in Northern California after having record highs earlier this week for this time of year. I’m looking forward to this as it’s perfect reading weather; blanket, fire and drink of your choice! With that, here is what I’ve been reading over the last couple of weeks:

I had mixed feelings about reading Double Time by Olivia Cunning. I wasn’t happy that the series skipped ahead and decided to publish what I understood would be the last book of the series. I love Trey. The whole unrequited love theme was working for me. I wanted to stand strong and not read it, but I’m too weak so I picked it up and I was not disappointed. I really liked Reagan and I love that she was a kick ass guitar player. I liked how Trey knew immediately that she was different and someone special. I’m not a fan of the menage, but I was okay with how it was handled in this story.

I started Enslaved by Elisabeth Naughton a while ago and had to put it down a couple of times to stay on task with my review books. I was able to focus on it this week and loved it. The world that Ms. Naughton has created is a perfect blending of the paranormal mixed in with the human realm. I simply love her use mythology as well. In this book, we get Gryphon’s story. Poor tortured Gryphon, who suffered much at the hands of Atalanta. Rescued by his brother Orpheus, he’s still tied to Atalanta and the underworld. Meeting Maelea changes all that, but boy do they go through a lot to get to their happy place. I loved it. Review to come soon.

I happened to be on Goodreads and saw a blurb for a new Mary Calmes book, But For You. I couldn’t believe I had missed it’s release and bought it right away. This is book #6 in her A Matter of Time series. In this, we return to the lives of Sam and Jory set a bit in the future following book 5. They are parents now and Sam is a Marshall. Everything seems to be going well-but Jory still seems to attract danger like a magnet. Humorous, emotional and beautifully touching moments between Sam and Jory made this a very satisfying read!

I’ve had my eye on a book called Aaron by J.P. Barnaby for a while now. I finally bought it and pretty much read it in one sitting. Aaron is a young man who at the age of 16 was kidnapped along with his friend Juliette while walking home for a school function. They both suffered horribly. Tortured, raped, burned, cut-Juliette didn’t survive and Aaron wishes he’d died as well. Two years later, bearing both the physical and emotional scars, he suffers fom severe panic attacks and can just barely function day to day. His parents want him to go to college, an attempt at normalcy, but the thought just scares him shitless. He signs up for one class though and meets a young man named Spencer who is deaf. When they are put together for a project a friendship starts that then turns to romance. I’m not sure why I’m drawn to these types of books, but I loved it-the angst then the healing through love and friendship. Well done.

I received an ARC of The Gravedigger’s Brawl by Abigail Roux. I am a huge fan of Ms. Roux, and though I had reservations about a ghost story-not something I like at all-I read this one. What a great surprise! Though the romance is actually secondary to the mystery in the story, I loved Ash and Wyatt’s relationship and my love of Ash was cemented as soon as I read his description which included guyliner and a tongue piercing. Really enjoyed.

For fun, I read Tigerland by Sean Kennedy. This sequel to Tigers and Devils was really well done. I loved revisiting Declan and Simon and seeing their relationship a few years in. Great secondary characters, humorous and serious moments both made this a fun read. I love Simon!

Lastly, I finished up an ARC of Tart by Lauren Dane. I hesitated on accepting this one because of its menage theme. I’m not against that in my books, but it doesn’t always work for me. While I enjoyed the story and the crossover visits of characters from her Brown Siblings series, I did have some problems with the menage. My review for this one posted earlier this week.

I’m looking forward to returning to Virgin River with a Christmas themed book by Robyn Carr, My Kind of Christmas featuring Patrick Riordan. I’ve also been dying to read Dex in Blue by Amy Lane, m/m angst and yumminess! Have a great weekend.

News From May:

This week, Iced was still on my mind and I attempted to break out of my KMM-induced reading hangover and break out with some good reads. Well, that didn’t happen. I did read a historical that I can’t even recall (guess it wasn’t good) or remember the title, another (review to come) by Galen Foley called My Scandalous Viscount that featured neither an especially scandalous man, nor a memorable ending or especially well developed characters. Now I’m determined to finish Desperately Seeking Shapeshifter by Jessica Sims. This is maybe the most straightforward PNR I’ve ever read – gotta be honest it has me a bit bored at this point. But the characters are super cute! I must read on about this bear-shifter virgin man.

On that note – wishing you HaPenis this weekend! I’ll be attempting to cross the 50% mark on being done with Christmas shopping…

Share this:

Related

Comments

@Helyce- Amy Lane is auto-buy for me. And every new book reminds me why.I read hers “Mourning Heaven”(it came out in September, I think) two weeks ago and she destroyed me. I am used to her torturing her heroes ,angst and pain, but she killed me with this one!
It’s-good-but-you-need-a-hug-after-reading kind of thing.
I have “Dex in Blue” on my Kindle waiting, so please share your thoughts on it.

Oh yes, I’ve loved Amy Lane every since I came across Talker and then gobbled up her promises series. Lately, she’s released quite a few books and I’ve lost track. Didn’t even know about Mourning Heaven, but I will check it out. Thanks for the rec. I loved Chase In Shadow, so I’m thinking Dex will be a winner as well.